Dragon Ball Rewatch, Week 40 - DBZ episode 23-27

[ABED]

Eh I don't really see how it's dumb at all.

Because a lot of the jokes are specifically targeting a story they haven't seen.

[Demon Prince Piccolo]

Re: Yamcha dying by Saibaman


I don’t think Yamcha was wasted or treated as a joke. He only died because the saibaman offed himself in a kamikaze attack to show how dangerous the Saiyans were. The Z warriors were significantly weaker than Nappa. Piccolo got the “take the blast for someone else in a heroic sacrifice” death. Tenshinhan got the “give it everything I got till I drop dead” death Chaozu got the “Take you with me” death. What the hell was Yamcha going to get if he had died to Nappa? Just get one shotted by him most likely. Dying to a suicidal saibaman was probably the best option for him to get some sort of dignified death.

While I wish the Saibamen hadn't taken out Yamcha, I agree that he wasn't a joke. In fact, his fight served initially to showcase just how far he and the Earthlings had come in their training. Yamcha bested a creature with the same battle power as Raditz, someone Goku and Piccolo struggled beating together just episodes prior. And the fight was very well choreographed, too. Sure, Saibamen might seem like a joke compared to the threats that came later, but at the time they weren't.